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Key players may leave Giants

By Janie McCauley The Associated Press
Tuesday October 29, 2002

 

ANAHEIM — Dusty Baker walked out of the visitors’ clubhouse at Edison Field carrying his 3 1/2-year-old boy, both father and son uncertain of their baseball futures. 

The Giants’ 4-1 loss to Anaheim in Game 7 of the World Series on Sunday night could have been Baker’s final hurrah in a San Francisco uniform, and for some of his key players, too. And as for his son, Darren, baseball officials probably will discuss whether there should be a minimum age for bat boys because of his near accident at home plate in Game 5. 

The Giants were so close to the franchise’s first World Series championship in 48 years. On Saturday, San Francisco held a 5-0 lead in the seventh inning before the Angels launched the biggest comeback ever by a team facing elimination. 

Now that the season is over, the Giants could be different within days. 

Baker, whose contract is up, hoped to hear a lot earlier that the Giants wanted him back. 

“I don’t know right now,” he said after finishing his 10th season as Giants manager. “My gut right now, it’s just heavy.” 

The 53-year-old Baker, who took the Giants to their first World Series since 1989, said early in the playoffs that he did not intend to “break the bank” — meaning the $6 million a year Joe Torre got from the Yankees — “but I want to be near the bank.” 

Many managerial jobs have already been filled, but there still remain attractive openings with Seattle and the Chicago Cubs. 

Baker isn’t the only Giant who could be leaving. Second baseman Jeff Kent must decide whether to leave San Francisco as a free agent. 

And general manager Brian Sabean will be awaiting a call from owner Peter Magowan to work out a new deal. Magowan is leaving the managerial decision to the GM. 

If Baker leaves, it would be the end of an era that began when he arrived in San Francisco before the 1993 season. He led the Giants to 103 wins his first year — but they didn’t make the playoffs. 

The Giants won the NL West in 1997 and 2000, but didn’t win a playoff series until his team knocked off Atlanta and St. Louis to reach the World Series this year. 

The likable Baker would be missed for the way he handled personalities in the clubhouse, allowed players’ sons to run around the dugout and for his friendly interaction with fan